WATERBORO — Apparently no one at town hall knew it, including the current office holder, but Tuesday’s election for a three-year road commissioner’s term came one year too soon.

Fred Fay was last elected to the road commissioner’s post in 2008, which means his term expires in 2011.

But the road commissioner’s seat was on Tuesday’s ballot, and two candidates ran for the spot.

The mix-up has left the board of selectmen, town administrator and town clerk red-faced, and even Fay, who had chosen not to run in Tuesday’s election, said he didn’t know either.

How town officials came to believe Fay’s term expired in 2010 remains a mystery, but it was discovered Friday afternoon by selectmen’s secretary Pam Witman.

In the running for the spot were Scott Ohman and Douglas Foglio, Sr. Results from the vote showed Ohman ahead by 12 votes, 744 to 732, and town officials were preparing for an automatic re-count, until they learned there is no such provision in state law. Then, they tentatively set a re-count for Tuesday, anticipating one of the candidates would request one before Friday’s revelation.

 Fay said he’ll finish the one year remaining on his term.

“Yes, I’m staying on,” said Fay, Saturday. “It’s just one of those things that happen,” he said of the foul-up.

Selectmen have declared the election for the road commissioner seat null and void, and Selectmen Chairman Dennis Abbott said he’ll propose at Tuesday’s meeting that the candidates be reimbursed by the town for out-of-pocket expenses associated with their run for office.

“How did it happen?” wondered Selectman Jon Gale. “Ultimately, as selectpeople, you say, ”˜We’re responsible.’”

Nomination papers for the three-year term were available in March, as they were for other elected offices such as selectmen and Regional School Unit 57 director, and were returned to the Town Clerk’s office April 27.

Ohman this morning said he is surprised that the foul-up went unnoticed.

“It is ridiculous it went on this long,” he said.

His opponent in the race agreed.

“One hand doesn’t know what the other hand is doing,” said Foglio. “How much trouble is it to follow terms of elected office?”

Selectmen gathered briefly before Town Meeting Saturday to discuss the situation. Selectman Gordon Littlefield said the best course of action was to “deal with it straight on and not lay blame.”

But Littlefield said he’d heard someone knew earlier on.

“I’d be upset ”¦ if someone knew prior to (the vote) and sat on it, looking for the opportunity to embarrass us,” he said.

“We’ve made an egregious error. We ran an election for an office that had one year remaining on his term,” Abbott told those assembled for Town Meeting. “Not only did we put the town through an election that wasn’t necessary, but two candidates in the position of spending time and money ”¦ That election process is null and void.”

Abbott told the 100 or so townspeople that a reimbursement would be proposed Tuesday, and noted the board would also “launch an investigation or critique, so in the future we don’t have this kind of situation.”

“Our apologies to Scott and Doug,” said Abbott. “It is not easy to stand up here and apologize for the errors, but it happened on this board’s watch.”

He said the town attorney had been contacted and it had been determined that nullifying the result of the road commissioner’s race was the correct course of action.

Foglio, for his part, said he’s not sure if he’ll run again in 2011 and expressed concern over what had transpired. He noted the proposal to reimburse candidates for out-of-pocket expenses, but said that doesn’t cover the time involved to run for the spot.

“I’m very upset,” said Ohman. “This is a huge black eye for the town of Waterboro. A public apology is an embarrassment.”

— Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com.